In part the nation state idea gained traction after the decline of the Holy Roman Empire, and the increasing success of the early nation states - England and Holland - which I am sure were an inspiration to other parts of Europe

So ethno-nationalism is very much Western. The liberals tend to downplay this, in part because they are confused.

On one hand they dislike the ethno nation state. Its so uncool
But they also dislike the "Empire" model that preceded the nation state

"I would argue the country, as a whole, is still firmly secular, liberal in the Nehruvian idea, which is that we need a country which is open to different religions, to different ethnicities, to different beliefs if we are to stay together"

Now on the question of a country as heterogeneous as India being open to different ethnicities and beliefs -

There is by and large a consensus in India. Including within the BJP or the so-called Hindu Right

Related threads

#Update: Video from snapmaps of Tanks moving in #Pakistan towards border line in #Sialkot near the border of #India and are now at the Sialkot LoC area. Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos

#Update: But still no reports of shootings going on in #Pakistan or in #India while the tanks are advancing near the #Sialkot LoC area. Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos

"We didn't take action earlier without assessing our own damage from Indian airstrikes...Two Indian MiGs that entered Pakistani airspace today after our retaliation were shot down. But where do we go from here?"

In direct breach of the Geneva Convention, an Indian Air Force pilot tied up and filmed by Pakistani captors

Breaking: Large terrorist attack in #India. More than 40 Indian Reserve Police Force personnel were killed and many others injured when Pakistani backed terrorists targeted a convoy with a car bomb at Awantipora in Jammu and Kashmir's today, ndtv.com/india-news/15-…

Reports suggested that the vehicle used by the terrorists was a Mahindra Scorpio carrying more than 350 kg of explosives in what is the worst attack ever on security personnel in the state.

Sources said that terrorists triggered the car bomb while 78 vehicles with over 2,500 reserve police men were on the Srinagar-Jammu highway. The stretch on which the incident occurred had been sanitized in the morning & authorities called it a serious breach of security.

Michael Ryder and @Bkerrychina kicking off today's @RSAsianAffairs conference on China's Belt and Road Initiative, hosted at KCL, supported by the Wilson Center. Papers will be published as forthcoming issue of Asian Affairs - free to members of the RSAA

What will happen if Belt and Road Initiative leads to significant economic dev - will they lean towards political openness? This would not necessarily be desirable for China. In reality - tendency is NOT for 66 countries involved to move towards democracy with growth @shirleyzeyu

Much talk about possible 'debt trap' for recipient countries. What about risk to China, who will have invested massively via Belt and Road? Autocracies, authoritarian regimes may not uphold their obligations. @shirleyzeyu